If only I hadn't kidnapped the dog...but the ransom paid the mortgage....Now I seem to be a private eye....I shouldn't have listened to that ghost....

Meet Sarah Booth Delaney...an unconventional Southern belle whose knack for uncovering the truth is about to make her the hottest detective in Zinnia, Mississippi...if it doesn't make her the deadest.

No self-respecting lady would allow herself to end up in Sarah Booth's situation. Unwed, unemployed, and over thirty, she's flat broke and about to lose the family plantation. Not to mention being haunted by the ghost of her great-great-grandmother's nanny, who never misses an opportunity to remind her of her sorry state--or to suggest a plan of action, like ransoming her friend's prize pooch to raise some cash.

But soon Sarah Booth's walk on the criminal side leads her deeper into unladylike territory, and she's hired to solve a murder. Did gorgeous, landed Hamilton Garrett V really kill his mother twenty years ago? And if so, what is Sarah Booth doing falling for this possible murderer? When she asks one too many questions and a new corpse turns up, she is suddenly a suspect herself...and Sarah Booth finds that digging up the bones of the past could leave her rolling over in her grave.

"A writer of exceptional talent."
-The Milwaukee Journal

"Wonderful!"
-Nancy Pickard

"A page-turning, laugh-out-loud read--I couldn't put it down."
-Deborah Crombie

"A feistier Southern Belle you couldn't hope to find. Pull up a chair on the front porch of Dahlia House and pour yourself a mint julep. You're going to want to set a spell with this fine debut."
-Rick Riordan, Edgar Award-winning author of The Widower's Two-Step

"A writer of exceptional talent."

--The Milwaukee Journal

"Wonderful!"

--Nancy Pickard

"A page-turning, laugh-out-loud read--I couldn't put it down."

--Deborah Crombie

"A feistier Southern Belle you couldn't hope to find. Pull up a chair on the front porch of Dahlia House and pour yourself a mint julep. You're going to want to set a spell with this fine debut."

--Rick Riordan, Edgar Award-winning author of The Widower's Two-Step

Unwed, unemployed, and over 30, Sarah Booth Delaney is flat broke and about to lose the family plantation. Just when things look their bleakest, Sarah Booth is offered cash for snooping. But while digging up the truth about a 20-year-old tragedy, Sarah suddenly finds herself the prime suspect in a murder.